San Francisco Giants managing general partner Bill Neukom (left) announces that the team has exercised its options on manager Bruce Bochy (right) and general manager Brian Sabean's contracts at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco Giants managing general partner Bill Neukom (left)...

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San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval announced that he's lost weight in the off-season while meeting with sportswriters at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval announced that...

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San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum meets with sportswriters - young and old - at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum meets with sportswriters...

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San Francisco Giants outfielder Cody Ross discusses the upcoming season with sportswriters at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco Giants outfielder Cody Ross discusses the upcoming...

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Tim Lincecum was sporting a small moustache when San Francisco Giants players met with sportswriters at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Tim Lincecum was sporting a small moustache when San Francisco...

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San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval (right) arrives at AT&T Park where he announced that he's lost weight in the off-season while meeting with sportswriters in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval (right) arrives...

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San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval announced that he's lost weight in the off-season while meeting with sportswriters at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

As recently as October 2009, the general manager and manager did not have contracts to return to the Giants. Now, they are assured of jobs for two more seasons after the team exercised their contract options for 2012.

Sabean, already the longest-tenured of baseball's 30 GMs, will have completed 16 years by the end of 2012. Bochy will have managed for six.

In announcing the decision Friday, managing general partner Bill Neukom could not contain his adulation for Sabean and Bochy, who steered the Giants to their first World Series championship in San Francisco.

"This is just another milestone in a career of relentless smart work in baseball," Neukom said of Sabean. "It's a career of accomplishment and leadership, which is stunning to us."

As for Bochy, the owner said, "This year we got it right largely because he was in the helm. With constantly changing landscapes, he found ways to solve the Rubik's Cube and put people in positions where they'd have a chance to not just succeed but excel as players."

Ownership's magnanimity went only so far. Teams often tack on a new option year when an existing option is exercised, or extend contracts outright. That the Giants' commitment to Sabean and Bochy reaches only two more years could be viewed as minimal in light of the World Series win.

Neukom did not explain fully why further extensions were not granted, but given the trust that has developed among all parties, Sabean and Bochy were said to be unconcerned.

The 2012 options were tacked onto the two-year contracts that Neukom gave Sabean and Bochy after 2009, the team's first winning season since 2004.

Their prior contracts were to expire after 2009, and the new managing general partner stated clearly to both before that season that their futures hinged on winning. Only after the Giants finished 88-74, a 16-game improvement over 2008, did Sabean and Bochy get to keep their jobs.

Both acknowledged the brickbats thrown their way amid all the losing, Bochy saying he had to earn the trust of management and the fans, Sabean saying he feels appreciation more than vindication.

"Everybody knows how committed we are and how serious we take our jobs and how sacred our jobs are," Sabean said. "I think what's been the common theme in this present ownership is, we're very open. Nobody can criticize us any more than the group itself. We're incredibly hard on ourselves, personally and collectively.

"You don't worry about whether you're getting your teeth kicked in or patted on the back, because as much pain as you go through you have an awful lot of fun in this business."

Bochy said he appreciates the chance to win a title and shoot for more.

"We're still 6 feet off the ground here," he said. "We know we have a lot of work ahead of us. But to have this team still intact says a lot about what ownership wants to do here ... to compete and try to do this again."